Improvements needed in the cash management practices of Interior's simultaneous oil and gas leasing program in Wyoming

Technical Report · Thu Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:6115277

The review objective was to determine if the Wyoming office, in operating its simultaneous oil and gas leasing program, was following good cash management practices and was maintaining adequate controls over filing fee payments. We conducted our review at BLM headquarters in Washington, DC, and at BLM's Wyoming State Office in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We interviewed officials from these offices and observed the processing of filing fee payments. We also examined pertinent cash management requirements set out by the Department of the Treasury's Fiscal Requirements Manual. We obtained BLM officials' oral comments on a draft of this report and incorporated them as appropriate. We identified poor cash management practices that warrant immediate attention. Despite Treasury and Interior Department requrements, the Wyoming office does not promptly deposit filing fee payments it receives from lease applicants, nor does it adequately control and safeguard those payments. As a result, the Government's cash position is adversely affected, and opportunities exist for loss or theft of the payments. During the first three 1982 drawings (in January, March, and May), the Wyoming office collected almost $23 million in filing fees. Its future collections are expected to be even greater. The fees it collected during the January and March drawings were for the states of Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska; those it collected during the May drawing included Colorado and Nevada as well. By the November 1982 drawing, the Wyoming office will collect the filing fees for all states in which the program operates. An Interior study estimated annual filing fee receipts of from $150 million to $225 million a year. Timely deposit of such payments increases the government's cash position, thereby reducing Treasury's need to borrow money and pay the corresponding interest charges.

• Research Organization: General Accounting Office, Washington, DC (USA). Energy and Minerals Div.
• OSTI ID: 6115277
• Report Number(s): GAO/EMD-82-122; ON: DE83901821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
294002* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Petroleum
294003 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Natural Gas
ECONOMIC POLICY
EVALUATION
FEDERAL REGION VIII
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INCOME
LEASES
MANAGEMENT
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NORTH AMERICA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PUBLIC LANDS
RESOURCES
ROYALTIES
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
USA
WYOMING